E. Jean Carroll's lawsuits against Trump for Sexual Assault and Defamation

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Carroll, when asked about Trump renewing his attack on her on Truth Social in October 2022:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Cross-examination of Carroll is about to begin. This is the key part of the trial.

[N.E. Brigand]

I love how old works of English literature had long titles like A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Publick or An Argument to Prove that the Abolishing of Christianity in England May, as Things Now Stand Today, be Attended with Some Inconveniences, and Perhaps not Produce Those Many Good Effects Proposed Thereby -- and those are two shorter examples.

I think Tolkien had a little fun with this when Frodo titles the book he and Bilbo wrote as The Downfall of The Lord of the Rings and the Return of the King (as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs of Bilbo and Frodo of the Shire, supplemented by the accounts of their friends and the learning of the Wise) Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by Bilbo in Rivendell.

[N.E. Brigand]

The reason that was on my mind:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Apparently, it is not unusual for Judge Kaplan to interject when there is a literary reference.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This thread really helps put this case in better perspective. It is easy to focus on the larger than life defendant, but the plaintiff is really the key person here.

[Sunsilver]

Interesting. Does this make anyone wonder if the rape was politically motivated? Trump was thinking, "This is a powerful woman. Maybe I can used her to say nice things about me in print. If she refuses, I can threaten to make it public that I had sex with her, and she'll do as I ask."

If you've heard the Access Hollywood tape, you'll realize he wouldn't see the rape as actually being rape.

[RoseMorninStar]

Sexual assault is about power. I'm going to do this to you and what? No one will believe a thing you say. It takes a lot of guts to go to court for such a thing.

I'm very pleased to hear there is an anonymous jury.. how do they do that? Are they all in private rooms with audio/video?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Something odd is going on.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

And then something completely unsurprising.

[Dave_LF]

Is there any chance that will succeed? I dunno; "you have to throw the trial out because I was too dumb to get the judge's jokes" seems like it's maybe not the argument he thinks it is...

Edit:

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I doubt it was ever meant to be granted. I think it had three supposed purposes. 1) To try to get Judge Kaplan to change his rulings moving forward; 2) To give a basis for appeal; and 3) To make it seem to Trump like Tacopina is fighting for him as vigorously as possible.

As to 1) it will not have that affect. As to 2) while it will provide a basis for appeal, I don't think that the basis will have any merit, but it will provide more delay in a final result.

3) is the real reason that Tacopina did this, even though Tacopina is taking a case that he should be able to win and making it much less likely that he will.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Someone with a hell of a lot more experience than me thinks so, too.

[Sunsilver]

Yes, it's always got to be his way, or the highway! That's why he's gone through so many lawyers, and Tacopina is doing his best not to be the latest to get the boot from Trump.

[RoseMorninStar]

Quoting Ron Filipkowski above "I’ve conducted over 300 jury trials. It’s never easy to tell your client, ‘I’m not doing that,’ or ‘I’m not doing it that way.’ But you just have to whenever you can within the laws of ethics. It appears Trump seeks out lawyers who don’t have this gene in their DNA."
That is a trait not limited to a choice in lawyers. Itt is how narcissists operate in all things with all people. It is how they keep their alternate reality alive. They find out quickly who will buy into their alternative reality, all others are 'enemies'.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This might be the most damaging thing that Tacopina has elicited on cross-examination.

[Dave_LF]

An academic tangent, but what's the guardrail against defense attorneys with hopeless cases deliberately breaking the rules to get a mistrial?

[N.E. Brigand]

My understanding is that two different people will testify, under oath, that Carroll told them what Trump (allegedly) did to her, shortly after it happened and thus long before SVU presented a television episode about a similar (fictional) event. My suspicion is that it all comes down to whether the jury finds those people credible.

[N.E. Brigand]

I assume Tacopina is working up to some final "gotcha" moment. He told the judge about an hour ago that his cross-examination would wrap about now.

Edit: just as a I typed that, the judge apparently noticed the time, because he asked Tacopina if he was "getting close," to which Tacopina said it would take another 10-15 minutes (so they're taking a break.)